Two Turtles Roaming

A big part of having a mountain house is appreciating nature. Today, two turtles were very curious about what was going on in the middle of their forest.

Foundation Complete

Traveled the distance to check out the progress today. The foundation has been completed and is ready for the radiant floor heating system to go in. According to the builder, this should happen next week when the special order Pex piping arrives. We met with the builder to go over the details of the heating system a couple of weeks ago. At that time, we determined that we were not only going to have to have an additional space for this system but were going to run it under the second floor rather than put radiators around those rooms. Can't wait to see how this works out. Its going to be great not having forced air heating but warm floors are going to be even better on those cold winter days.

Forest in Bloom

The drive up the mountain to the homesite is in bloom with mountain laurel and rhododendron.

Foundation Begins

Met with builder Mike on Saturday to go over the plans for the radiant floor heating system and snapped a couple of pictures of the work in progress. The footers have been poured and as you can see the block for the foundation is being laid. The pipes for the heating system, plumbing, and some elecctrical should go in shortly making way for the slab to be poured.

Architect Drawing

Our architect, Carrie Gault, did a great job taking our inspiration house and designing a smaller version. The exterior siding will be corrugated metal halfway up and board and batten on the balance creating an urban farmhouse feel. The pergola covered patio on the front of the house will create the perfect nighttime gathering spot around an outdoor fireplace that rises to two metal chimneys creating an impressive sense of height and an air of industrialness to the structure. Inside, the first floor will consist of a living room, dining room, kitchen, half bath opening to an outdoor shower, and screen porch while the second floor will have a sleeping porch inspired master bedroom, a guest bedroom, and large bathroom. In total, it will have 1200 covered square feet and limitless amounts of outdoor living space that an 11 acre wooded lot bordering the Jefferson National Forest provides. (To view inspiration house, http://www.sunset.com/home/architecture-design/vashon-island-washington-00400000012627/ )

Breaking Ground

Six months and counting! Our Modern Mountain Home (aka OMM) has begun! Its been in the planning stages for almost four years now since the land was acquired in August 2006 and this week the location for the house on the top of our "mountain" was cleared and the footers dug. Its going to be a fun journey that we are looking to have complete by November 1, 2010 (just in time for an open house on Thanksgiving weekend). We are keeping our fingers crossed. Check in weekly for updates and more background information on how we got started.

Footprint of the House